Late Night Shopping Event a Great Success

Well it’s been 24 hours since the Christmas shopping event in the town centre and first and foremost I’d personally like to pay massive respect to the independent traders of Stone who banded together, put their hands deeper in to their pockets (both in terms of time and money) and put on an event to showcase what they have available in our own town. Supported by Stone town council the event brought a real focus on the amazing local businesses that we have in Stone.

From 5pm the crowds started to build and people were coming in from both Stone itself but also from further afield.

Eddie Redmayne with Fiona from Fleur’s tea room

Fiona from Fleur’s tearoom had a very special first customer, non only than the Oscar winning actor Eddie Redmayne who lives up in Sandon. It was evidently a sign of people being attracted to her stall as she’d sold out by 7:30pm!

The night time setting for the event made the shops light up like the gems that they are. There were constant streams of people going around the trader operated market stalls and then in and out of each hidden gem.

Josie who owns and runs Posy said “The late night shopping experience and Christmas markets last night was a wonderful event! It was amazing to see so many of our lovely customers and some new faces too! Everyone was in high spirits which created a great atmosphere – a fantastic night all around.”

As promised there were a selection of gifts, food and drink to be purchased on the night. Unfortunately live music that was booked didn’t show up but there was still a great atmosphere in our part of Staffordshire.

On the food front Nick from the award winning Griffins of Stone butchers said: “We were completely taken aback by the support at the event. We sold out twice within the first hour and half….we sold almost 2 full pigs worth of meat!”

Further up Radford Street Little Seeds owners Sophie and Jack told us “Last night was a great success, it brought double the trade we would normally receive on a Wednesday night. We thought the Stone Christmas market was a great idea and fantastic way to support all of the different small businesses Stone has to offer. Let’s hope that next year it gets even bigger and better. ”

Lianne who runs Mr Simms Olde Sweet Shop said “It was a lovely evening, very well supported by the residents of Stone. We also had customers from Loggerheads and Nantwich. We’ve hopefully made some lovely friendships as well. ”

As the town council provided the market stalls The local traders decided to donate the stall pitch money to the marvellous Stone Community Hub.

Karen from Stone Community Hub said “It was great to be part of such wonderful event, the atmosphere was festive and people seemed to be having a good time. Our stall was busy from start to finish which generated a lot of money for the Hub. Plus we were able to tell lots more people about the work we do.”

A massive well done to the organisers and also a massive well done to those who went in to town to support the event.